Q: I get tons of Internet advertisements every day for brand-name sexual products like Cialis, Levitra and Viagra. The prices are ridiculously low compared to the prices at the pharmacy. Is there any problem with saving money and buying from these outlets?

A: Absolutely, positively, never ever buy from any of those sources. As consumers, we all want the best prices. We are all aware that there are different prices in different pharmacies even in different countries. You may have friends or relatives who are buying medicines from Canada at a significant discount when compared with U.S. prices. But when you buy from a registered pharmacy in the United States or another First World country there is an excellent chance that you are buying the true brand name product from the manufacturer. These pharmaceutical companies must pass rigorous test and inspections in terms of the accuracy, cleanliness and medicinal content of the final product.

The chemical process of making the sophisticated medications we use is very complicated and typically involves many different chemical reactions and using agents that can be very dangerous to our bodies if they are not in the correct proportions. If the process is not done properly, some of those chemical contaminants can remain in the products, and that can be very dangerous to our brain, liver, and in extreme cases, can even be carcinogenic (cancer causing).

The name-brand products that you mentioned cannot be bought by any resellers from the pharmaceutical companies at anywhere near the prices that you have seen them advertised for. The advertisements you see are almost definitely bootleg pharmaceuticals that are being made in a small laboratory or someone’s fancy kitchen or bathroom. There are no controls on the chemicals used or the impurities placed in the products. It’s no different from buying bootleg illegal drugs from dealers who have no knowledge or concern as to how the drugs were made. They have their profit in mind, not your health.

When it comes to medications, we all want to be sure we are helping our bodies and not harming them. And although it may be a pinch financially to buy a sexual health product in the pharmacy, what we are really buying is years of research, and our confidence that the product is safe and effective. We are also buying reassurance that the product was made in the safest possible facility and under the most scrutinized conditions. Take my advice on this one. Save your money and label these Internet scammers as unwanted junk mail.